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Giants
*(Ice Giants, Rime Giants) *(Frost Giants) *(Mountain Giants) | HistoryText = The Giants of Jotunheim, also known as the Etins, are enormous superhuman beings, most of whom dwell in the other dimensional realm of Jotunheim, one of the Nine Worlds of Asgardian cosmology. They are the traditional enemies of the gods of Asgard, with whom they have gone to war numerous times over the millennia. Jotunheim is a flat ring-shaped realm with high mountains along its inner edge. It is apparently on its own separate dimensional place, distinct from Asgard's or Earth's. However, there are interdimensional portals between the mountains of Jotunheim and those of Asgard, permitting easy passage from one realm to the other. Offspring On occasion, Giants will produce offspring who resemble the Asgardians in height. for example, Skurge, the original Executioner, was the son of a Giant. Giants can even interbreed with Asgardians. Odin himself, the monarch of Asgard, is the son of an Asgardian father, Bor, and a Giantess. Loki, the Asgardian god of mischief and evil, is the son of the deceased Giant king Laufey; since Loki shows none of the physical attributes of Giants, it may be assumed that his mother was a goddess, not a giantess. Taking Advantage In recent times, Odin disappeared from Asgard while battling the demonic Surtur. Learning of Odin's absence, Utgard-Loki decided the time had come to destroy Asgard. Planning first to eliminate potential opposition from the allies of Asgard, Utgard-Loki and his forces invaded Nornheim, the realm of the Norn Queen Karnilla. Utgard-Loki took Karnilla prisoner and used his enchanted dust to turn the inhabitants of Nornheim to stone. He and his Frost Giants then returned to his palace of ice in the frigid tundra of Jotunheim, where they forced Karnilla to toil as their slave. Karnilla's lover, the Asgardian god Balder, followed her to the palace, where he was forced to do combat with Hagen of Trondgarrd, a highly accomplished Giant swordsman. Balder defeated Hagen, and later confronted Utgard-Loki, who hurled his enchanted dust at the god. Using his newly emerged power to generate heat and light, Balder created enough heat to ignite every particle of the dust before it could reach him. The tremendous heat destroyed the palace, which was made of ice, and reduced Utgard-Loki and the other Frost Giants within it to heights of less than one foot. Balder could have destroyed them entirely through continuing to generate heat, but chose not to do so. Having rendered the Frost Giants helpless, he and the rescued Karnilla returned to Nornheim. Thor's weakness Drawing on he power of the human mutant Iceman, Loki restored the size and power of a group of Frost Giants. These Giants, led by Grundroth, attempted to kill Loki, who was saved through the intervention of the thunder god Thor. In retaliation, Grundroth led the others to Earth where they contacted Jormungand, the Midgard Serpent and induce him to battle their enemy Thor for them. Thor slew the Serpent in a tremendous battle in which the Asgardian himself was reduced to a mass of pulped flesh, which was still alive due to a curse put on Thor by the goddess Hela that made him incapable of dying. Grundroth planned to take Thor's body back to Jotunheim and claim rulership of the Frost Giants as his reward for besting the thunder god. Loki then tricked one of Grundroth's Giants, Siggorth, into infusing his life force into the virtually invincible Destroyer, which then slew Grundroth and the rest of the Giant band. Meanwhile, In Jotunheim, Utgard-Loki and the other Frost Giants had regained most of their former size and power. Learning that the Asgardians had fallen victim to a strange plague that paralyzed them, Utgard-Loki led an army of Frost Giants loyal to him in an invasion of Asgard. Balder, Volstagg, and Kurse, and a number of Asgardian children who had not fallen victim to the plague fought the Giants until Thor, who had been freed from the curse and restored to full health by Hela, arrived and overpowered Utgard-Loki. Thor and Balder allowed the defeated Utgard-Loki and his forces to leave Asgard in return for his pledge to try to find a cure for the magic that had paralyzed the Asgardians. Utgard-Loki did indeed find a cure for the Asgardian's plague and by some undisclosed means, the inhabitants of Nornheim were freed from the spell of Utgard-Lokis enchanted dust. Since then, the Frost Giants have refrained from attacking Asgard. In fact, the Giants of Jotunheim allied themselves with the Asgardians recently in battling the forces of the death god Seth. However, the enmity of the Giants of Jotunheim toward the Asgardians remains undiminished, and it is virtually inevitable that the Giants will menace Asgard again. Giant Types Frost Giants First Appearance: List of known Frost Giants Images of Frost Giants of all the races of Giants, the foremost enemies of the Asgardian gods are the Frost Giants, whose monarch is Utgard-Loki. The direct descendants of the first Giant, Ymir, the Frost Giants live in the area of Jotunheim whose climate resembles that of Earth's polar regions. Temperatures in this area never rise above the freezing point of water. The Frost Giants can exist comfortably at frigid temperatures but are highly vulnerable to heat. Although they can withstand the normal temperatures to be found in Asgard and in the temperate regions of Earth, intense heat causes them to shrink in size rapidly, as if melting. Long exposure to cold will eventually cause them to grow back to their previous size. The Frost Giants' powers are strongest in their own realm of Jotunheim, presumably due at least in part to the frigid climate of much of the realm. Ice Giants First Appearance: List of known Ice Giants The first of the Giants was the Ice Giant Ymir, one of the oldest living beings in the Nine Worlds. Rime Giants First Appearance: List of known Rime Giants Mountain Giants First Appearance: List of known Mountain Giants Storm Giants First Appearance: List of known Storm Giants The Storm Giants, who dwell in the more temperate mountain regions of Jotunheim have frequently battled the Asgardians through their history. Snow Giants First Appearance: List of known Snow Giants Wind Giants First Appearance: List of known Wind Giants | Habitat = | Gravity = | Atmosphere = | Population = | Powers = At least some Frost Giants have the power to create magical illusions. Utgard-Loki is a master of the sorcery of the Frost Giants. His powers to create illusions are greater than those of other know Frost Giants. He can cause the weather of Jotunheim to grow even more frigid. He once transformed Karnilla the Norn Queen into a bird. Utgard-Loki first encountered the Asgardian gods Thor and Loki many centuries ago when the two gods came to his castle. Utgard-Loki demanded that they perform a series of what appeared to be simple feats, which in actuality proved immensely difficult. Using his magical powers of illusion, Utgard-Loki had disguised the objects of the feats that he had Thor and Loki to perform. Hence, in lifting appeared to be a cat's paw, Thor actually was lifting the immense bulk of Jormungand, the Midgard Serpent. Thor and Loki fared impressively in coping with these challenges, despite Utgard-Loki's deceptions. | Abilities = With some exceptions, like the swordsman Hagen, Giants are not highly skilled in the arts of combat, but their sheer size and strength make them formidable opponents even for the Asgardian gods. | AvgStrength = Giants possess superhuman strength and resistance to physical injury. (The flesh and bone of the Giants of Jotunheim are about three times denser than similar human tissue, contributing to their superhuman strength and weight.) They are extremely long-lived, but their life spans are not as long as those of the Asgardian gods, who have been able to extend their lives through consumption of the enchanted apples of Idunn. | Weaknesses = | GovernmentType = | TechnologyLevel = Giants tend to lead a simple existence as hunters and gatherers. | CulturalTraits = They have a warlike culture, and their envy of the Asgardians has caused them to go to war with Asgard repeatedly over the millennia. | Representatives = * Utgard-Loki * Laufey * Fafnir * Fasolt | Notes = | Trivia = | Links = | CustomSection1 = | CustomText1 = }} Category:Giants Category:Jotunheim